Q: I use something that grants Nacatl War-Pride an ability or changes its power or toughness, and I attack with it. Do the tokens get the ability/bonus as well? A: No. The tokens are copies of the War-Pride, and copy effects can only "see" the actual card and other copy effects. Counters, Auras, Equipment, effects from spells and abilities...anything that is not part of the actual card and isn't a copy effect won't be given to the tokens. (See the Copying section of the main FAQ for more information.)
For example:
I enchant my Nacatl War-Pride with Mythic Proportions and attack with it. The copies will be 3/3s without trample; the Proportions does not have a copy effect, so the effect that creates the token copies won't "see" it.
I attack with Nacatl War-Pride , and while the "copy-me" triggered ability is on the stack, I use Cytoshape to turn the War-Pride into a Vizzerdrix . The tokens will also be Vizzerdrixes, because Cytoshape is a copy effect, and thus will be "seen" and duplicated.
Q: How does Nacatl War-Pride 's blocking restriction work? A: If it is possible for the defending player to block the War-Pride with exactly one creature, he or she is forced to do so. (The choice of exactly which creature to block it with is up to the defending player.)
If that isn't possible, the defending player may block it with multiple creatures or leave it unblocked.
Q: How does Nacatl War-Pride work with effects like Lure ? A: A Lure on a War-Pride doesn't have much effect; the only thing it does is to force your opponent to not let the Lure-Pride be the one unblocked War-Pride that gets through their defenses. This is because when blocking, you must satisfy as many blocking requirements as possible, and blocking the Lure-Pride with only one creature and having your other creatures block the other Prides will always fulfill more requirements than blocking it with multiple creatures would.
If a non-War-Pride creature with Lure and a War-Pride attacks you, each creature you control will be forced to either block the Lured creature or whichever of the War-Prides you wish. (You won't be able to multi-block any of the War-Prides, though.)
This answer changes if there are (for some reason) more potential blockers than there are War-Prides. Ask in Rules Q&A if that happens.
Q: How does Nacatl War-Pride work with Doubling Season ? A: The War-Pride's ability will put double the number of tokens onto the battlefield than it normally would. These tokens are exactly like the regular tokens created by the War-Pride. They will be attacking, and they will be exiled at end of turn.
Q: Do the tokens have the token-making ability too? If so, why doesn't it trigger and create even more tokens, which then make even more, and even more...? A: Yes, they have the ability. But the ability triggers when the War-Pride is declared as an attacking creature, and the tokens are put onto the battlefield already attacking; they are never declared as attacking creatures, so the ability won't trigger.
Q: Wait, the tokens have the token-making ability? So if I find some way to attack again before they're exiled, each of those tokens will make another set of tokens? A: Yes, as long as you can give them haste so they can be declared as attackers. (The tokens are summoning-sick, since you haven't controlled them since the beginning of your most recent turn. The only reason they could be attacking before was that they were put onto the battlefield already attacking.)
Q: I attack the opposing team with Nacatl War-Pride in a Two-Headed Giant game. Do I get tokens for the creatures controlled by both "heads", or only one? And if only one, which? A: You only get tokens for the creatures controlled by one of the opposing team's "heads", but it's whichever one you want.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: What counts as an "ability"? A: Any text in a card's text box that is not in italics is an ability, no matter what it says or does. Anything that has any non-italics text in its text box will not be boosted by the Petroglyphs. (Yes, this includes Imperiosaur .)
Also, anything that says that your creature(s) "gain(s)" or "has/have" something is granting an ability to the creature; thus, your creature will no longer be given the Petroglyphs boost.
Q: I have something on the battlefield that turns my lands into creatures. Will my basic lands get the Petroglyphs bonus because they don't have any text in their text box? A: No. They do have an ability; it's just hidden. All basic lands have the ability ": Add [big symbol on card] to your mana pool."
Q: If I have Life and Limb out, do my Saprolings get the bonus? A: No. Because they're Forests, they have the ability ": Add to your mana pool", so they aren't "creatures with no abilities", and thus will not be boosted by the Petroglyphs.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: Can I flashback Dread Return from my graveyard to reanimate one of the creatures that I sacrificed to cast it? A: No. You choose targets for your spells before you pay costs, so it has to be a creature card that was already in your graveyard.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: When can I counter one of these spells? What happens when I do so? A: Each time the spell comes out of suspension, its controller is casting it and putting it on the stack, so it can be countered the same way any other spell can. If it's countered, it's put into its owner's graveyard and does not resuspend, because it did not resolve. (Note that Chronomantic Escape and Festering March don't have any targets, so can't be countered by making their targets illegal.)
Q: What happens if I copy one of these spells? Does the copy suspend itself and come back the same way the original does? A: The copy will exile itself with time counters on it, but it won't come back, because it will then cease to exist.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: If my Pact is countered, do I still have to pay during my next upkeep? A: No. The Pacts only set up the pay-or-lose trigger during their resolution, and if a spell is countered, none of its effects occur. This means that if the Pact is countered, it doesn't have time to set up the delayed trigger and thus you will not have to pay.
Q: If my Pact of Negation or Slaughter Pact 's target becomes illegal somehow, do I still have to pay during my next upkeep? A: No. A spell whose targets become illegal is countered when it tries to resolve, and just like above, none of its effects will occur, including the setup of the delayed trigger.
Q: On my next upkeep, can I avoid having to pay by countering the triggered ability or by having something that says I can't lose the game ? A: Yes. If you counter the triggered ability, it will never resolve, so you will never have to pay, and "can't" beats "can", so if something says you can't lose the game, the Pact can't force you to.
Q: What happens if I somehow skip my next upkeep? A: The Pact's delayed trigger waits until the next upkeep you actually take, not necessarily your next "scheduled" upkeep. If you keep skipping your upkeep, you won't have to pay for any of your Pacts...but as soon as you do take an upkeep, you'll have to pay for all of the Pacts you've cast since you started skipping them, all at once.
Q: What happens if I untap and draw my card and forget to pay for my Pact? A: You lose the game. (...What did you expect? That is what it says.)
In a casual game, your opponent may be lenient with the rules and allow you to back up and pay, but they don't have to, and you certainly shouldn't expect it of them, much less in any kind of sanctioned tournament play. You're the one who cast the Pact, so you're the one responsible for remembering to pay it. If you don't, you must suffer the consequences.
Q: But wait, isn't the payment mandatory? So I have to back up and pay it? A: The payment is mandatory, so if you happened to have enough mana in your mana pool to pay it at the time the trigger resolved, you would be forced to do so. However, nothing is forcing you to generate the required amount of mana. So if you move on to your draw step without doing so, it is assumed that you didn't do so and thus couldn't possibly have paid for the Pact, so you lose.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: If I have a Platinum Angel on the battlefield, can I lose the game because of... A: No. Stop right there. If you have a Platinum Angel on the battlefield (and it still has its ability), there is absolutely nothing that could possibly make you lose the game or make your opponent win. Not Phage , not having 0 life, not drawing cards from an empty library, nothing.
The only way you can possibly lose if you have an Angel on the battlefield is by you choosing, of your own free will, to concede the game. Period. It really is that simple.
(Okay, okay, or you could be forced by the tournament rules to lose, either by being handed a Game Loss by a Judge or to break a tie in a single-elimination tournament, but nothing within the game can possibly cause you to lose.)
Q: My opponent and I both have Platinum Angels on the battlefield, and no way to get rid of them. What happens? A: The game continues until either one of you finds a way to get rid of your opponent's Angel, one of you concedes, or you agree that the game is a draw. The game will not naturally end.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: What counts as a card type? A: There are eight different card types in Magic: instant, sorcery, artifact, enchantment, creature, planeswalker, land, and tribal. Any type that isn't one of these eight isn't a card type*. (It might be a supertype, a creature type, an enchantment type, or whatever, but it's not a card type.)
*Okay, okay, technically there are a few others—Plane, Scheme, Vanguard—but those will never, ever be on a card in a graveyard or anywhere else you'll ever be asked to care about them, so don't worry about those.
Q: I have a Tarmogoyf on the battlefield with nothing in any graveyard and my opponent tries to kill it with a spell that deals 1 damage or reduces its toughness by 1. (Say, Afflict or Zap .) Does Tarmogoyf get boosted by the increased number of card types in graveyards in time to survive the damage/toughness reduction? A: Yes. Since creature death due to damage or toughness reduction is a state-based effect, the game doesn't bother checking whether or not Tarmogoyf "should die" until after the spell has completely finished resolving, and by that time, the card is already in the graveyard and boosting Tarmogoyf just enough to make it survive.
This answer applies doubly to permanents that are sacrificed as a cost to activate some ability that would deal damage to/reduce the toughness of Tarmogoyf, as the permanent will be in the graveyard and boosting Tarmogoyf long before the ability resolves.
Note: This answer scales up. If your Tarmogoyf is a 1/2 with no instants in the graveyard and your opponent Shock s it, it will survive. If it's a 2/3 with no sorceries and your opponent Volcanic Hammer s it, it will survive. And so on and so forth. You only check whether or not Tarmogoyf should die after the spell has finished resolving and gone to the graveyard.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: How, exactly, does Coat of Arms work? A: For each creature on the battlefield, Coat of Arms will go around to each other creature on the battlefield and ask them if they share a type with that creature. Every creature that answers "yes" gives the creature +1/+1.
Four example, if four Goblin tokens are on the battlefield, each of the tokens gets +3/+3, because each Goblin sees three other creatures that share a type with them.
Q: If creatures shares more than one creature type, do they get a bigger bonus? A: No. Coat of Arms does not count the number of creature types that creatures may share; all that matters is whether or not they share any at all. Sharing two, three, or fifty types is exactly the same as sharing just one, as far as the Coat is concerned.
Q: Do creatures have to share all of their types in order to be boosted by a Coat of Arms? A: No; they only have to share at least one. If there's a Human Wizard and a Vedalken Wizard on the battlefield, they each get +1/+1, because they share the Wizard creature type.
Q: How does Coat of Arms interact with Mistform Ultimus and Changelings ? A: The Ultimus/Changeling will get +1/+1 for each other creature on the battlefield that has a creature type. It will not get more than that, no matter how many creature types those other creatures may have.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: I have more than one of a particular Elemental Incarnation out. Do I get an increased effect? A: Not particularly, no. Purity, Guile, Hostility, and Vigor all have replacement effects that replace one thing with another; once it has been replaced by one of your Incarnations, it's no longer trying to do the thing the Incarnations try to replace, so the second one's replacement effect won't apply.
Vigor will get slightly better, because each Vigor will protect the other from damage. Dread also gets slightly better, as each will trigger independently; thus, creatures that can regenerate will need to be regenerated twice rather than once in order to survive both triggers.
Q: My Elemental Incarnation is put into my graveyard. How soon does it get shuffled back into my library? A: As soon as the Incarnation is put into the graveyard, its ability triggers; nothing happens yet, though. After whatever's currently resolving is done resolving, the Incarnation's ability goes onto the stack. Both players will have a chance to respond to it, and then it will resolve and shuffle the Incarnation back into your library.
Specific Incarnations Questions
Q: Does Purity also give me life if I control the thing dealing the damage, such as Char or a painland ? A: Yes. Purity doesn't care who controls the thing that's trying to damage you and will give you life regardless of who that is.
Q: How does Guile's effect work? A: If a spell or ability you control would directly counter a spell an opponent controls, it doesn't. Instead it exiles that spell and gives you the opportunity to cast it without paying its mana cost if you so desire. You have to decide whether or not to cast it right then, and you won't have the opportunity to cast it again later. If you cast it, it goes onto the stack and then goes into the graveyard once it's done resolving, just like a normal spell. You don't have to cast it if you don't want to, and if you don't the spell stays exiled permanently.
You can do this no matter what type of spell it was you were countering or whose turn it is, and you are casting the spell, so it will trigger any abilities that trigger off of spells being cast and will increase your storm count. If you attempt to counter a spell copy that doesn't have a physical card associated with it, such as a Twincast -created copy or a storm copy, it will get exiled but you won't be able to cast it.
Q: Do I have to pay anything to cast the Guile'd spell? A: Guile takes care of the spell's mana cost, so you don't have to pay that, but if there are any mandatory additional costs to casting the spell (such as the cost imposed by Thorn of Amethyst or sacrificing an artifact to Shrapnel Blast ) you will have to pay them if you want to cast it. Optional additional costs, such as kicker or replicate, can be paid if you wish, but they are not free.
Q: I cast a spell that deals damage to all creatures and an opponent. Will the tokens created by Hostility get damaged? A: If it deals the damage to players and creatures at the same time, no. The set of creatures that will be damaged by the spell is set before the damage is dealt and the tokens actually enter the battlefield--the tokens arrive on the scene too late to be dealt damage.
However, if the spell is an Incendiary Command or some other spell that deals damage to the players, and then deals damage the damage to creatures, the tokens will be damaged because they are entering the battlefield before the creatures are dealt damage, thus in time to get hit themselves.
Note that if something says it deals "damage to [each/all] creature(s) and player(s)", all the damage is dealt at the same time no matter what order creatures and players were listed--it's all one action that deals damage to everything simultaneously. It's only when the damage to creatures and players happens in separate clauses or are separated by the word "then" that the damage is not simultaneous.
Q: One player controls Hostility and the other controls Purity. The Hostility player casts a spell that would deal damage to the Purity player. What happens? A: Whatever the Purity player wants to happen. Both Hostility and Purity are trying to replace the damage that would be dealt to the Purity player with something else. Because they're trying to replace the same event, the player affected by that event (the Purity player) decides the order in which to apply them. They can choose to either give the Hostility player tokens or gain life. They'll probably choose the latter.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: Can I use Reveillark's ability to return Body Double? As a copy of Reveillark? And when the Double-ark dies the ability goes off again and I can effectively have the Double return itself? A: Yes to all of those questions.
As long as Body Double isn't on the battlefield, its power is always going to be 0, so it's a legal target for Reveillark's ability, no matter what its power might later become. By the time Reveillark's ability resolves, the 'Ark is in the graveyard and thus a legal choice for Body Double to copy. And when the Double leaves the battlefield it's in the graveyard just in time to be chosen as a target for the copied 'Ark-ability.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
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